Lucy Larcom
Lucy Larcom (March 5, 1824 - April 17, 1893) was an American poet. Life Larcom was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1824, the 9th of 10 children. Her father died when she was young. Her mother moved the family to Lowell, Massachusetts, where she ran a boarding house. Lucy worked in cotton mills in Lowell from the ages of 11 to 21 as a doffer. As a mill girl she hoped to earn some extra money for her family. While working at the mills in Lowell, Lucy made a huge impact. She wrote and published many of her songs, poems, and letters describing her life at the mills. Her idealistic poems caught the attention of John Greenleaf Whittier. Larcom was a friend of Harriet Hanson Robinson, who worked in the Lowell mills at the same time, and who also became a poet and author, and later became prominent in the women's suffrage movement. In the 1840s (circa 1846), Larcom taught at a school in Illinois before returning to Massachusetts. From 1865 to 1873, she was the editor of Our Young Folks, later renamed St. Nicholas Magazine.Watts, Emily Stipes. The Poetry of American Women from 1632 to 1945. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1978: 191. ISBN 0-292-76450-2 Larcom penned one of the best accounts of New England childhood of her time, A New England Girlhood, commonly used as a reference in studying early American childhood. Larcom never married. She died in Boston in 1893. Recognition Larcom's influence is still felt in her hometown of Beverly. A local literary magazine entitled The Larcom Review is named for her, as is the library at the Beverly High School. Larcom's legacy is honored in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she worked as a Mill Girl at the Boott Mills, and as such, the Lucy Larcom Park was named after her to honor her works of literature that recounted her life at the mills. The park can be found between the two Lowell High School buildings, and excerpts from her writings can be found on monuments, statues and other works of art throughout the park. Larcom Mountain, located in the Ossipee Mountains in New Hampshire, is named after her, as she frequented the area during the late 1800s. At Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, the Larcom Dormitory is named after her. Publications Poetry * Poems. Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1869. *''An Idyl of Work. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875. * ''Wild Roses of Cape Ann, and other poems. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1881. *''Poetical Works of Lucy Larcom. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1884. *Easter Gleams. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1890. *''John Greenleaf Whittier: A citizen of Amesbury. Amesbury, MA: Fred A. Brown, 1893. Songs *''Childhood Songs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1874; Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875. *At the Beautiful Gate, and other songs of faith. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. Fiction *Similitudes: From the ocean and the prairie. Boston: John P. Jewett, 1854. *''Ships in the Mist, and other stories. Boston: H. Hoyt, 1860. Non-fiction *''Landscape in American Poetry. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1879. *A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory''. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1889 **Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986. *''As It Is in Heaven. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. *The Unseen Friend. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1892. Juvenile *''Leila Among the Mountains, and other stories. Boston: Bradley & Woodruff, 1861; Boston: Henry Hoyt, 1861. Edited *''Breathings of the Better Life. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. *Roadside Poems for Summer Travellers. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1876. *''Hillside and Seaside in Poetry: A companion to 'Roadside poems'. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1871. *''Beckonings for Every Day: A calendar of thought. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1886. Letters and journals * Daniel Dulany Addison, ''Lucy Larcom: Life, letters, and diary. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1884. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Lucy Larcom, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 16, 2013. See also * List of U.S. poets References * Notes External links ;Poems *2 poems by Larcom: "Between Winter and Spring," "When the Woods Turn Brown" * "A Strip of Blue" in An American Anthology 1787-1900 * "Hannah Binding Shoes" in the Yale Book of American Verse * "A Year in Heaven" at PoetryArchive.com * Lucy Larcom at Cyberhymnal * Lucy Larcom 1824-1893 at the Poetry Foundation *Lucy Larcom at PoemHunter (87 poems) ;Books * *Lucy Larcom at Amazon.com ;About *Lucy Larcom (1824-1893) at Women's Natural History Museum *[http://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/lowell/docs/larcom.html Lucy Larcom, A New England Girlhood]'' at Primary Sources: Workshops in American History. *Lucy Larcom at Lowell Notes, National Park Service (PDF). *Lucy Larcom at Wheaton College History. Category:American poets Category:1824 births Category:1893 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets